Episode 51
Translator : Missme Editor : Aru

I wondered what I would do with it, and I couldn’t remember it and engrave it on the tombstone later on. Because it was the current national law that a traitor could not make a grave.

‘Oh, and…..’

Apart from him, there were a few things that I didn’t know.

‘Viscount Biffren has been suspicious for quite some time.’

‘How come?’

‘Cause the documents were so clean.’

‘If it’s a document……’

‘You know permanent financial documents. There wasn’t a single leak.’

‘Isn’t that good thing?’

‘It was a problem because it didn’t look like that.’

‘…….’

‘Well, I said it was made, but in more detail, I would say it is contemplative. Anyway, I thought he was a guy who wouldn’t want money, but I thought it was weird because there was no sign of touching money at all. Of course, His Excellency also thought the same.’

‘……’

‘So while I was on the territory the other day, I was out on a separate mission. If the Viscount didn’t touch the budget, I’m sure he’s filling his own pockets with other routes, so I went to check it out.’

Then he said he was able to get the big picture. The fact that the Viscount is selling something through illegal routes, and that a certain amount of the money he earned is flowing somewhere.

‘It was just a guess at the time that he was helping a rebel group, but today we confirmed it with a raid.”

‘……’

‘And, thanks to the snake, I was convinced that what he was selling was a hallucinogen.’

‘Snakes?’

‘The snake you saw in the garden. I found out in the morning that the snake was completely ingrained by hallucinogenic ingredients.’

At first, he said he didn’t know that the snake was in that condition. But one of the servants of the mansion was caught trying to steal the snake’s body away from the other eyes, and that made him suspicious.

‘Maybe it was to protect the hallucinogen-making field from animals.’

The trivial question of the snake, who had been in the garden, was solved like this.

‘It was half-anticipated that there will be a heavy penalty since the Viscount exposed it ’

‘……I see.’

The Imperial Court decided to mobilize people to find fields on the site of the mansion and discard them at dawn.

In the nearby area where the hallucinogens were distributed, the existence and symptoms of the hallucinogens and how to decipher them were thoroughly informed in letters.

One thing to point out here is the fact that Lucas sold hallucinogens only to the surrounding area except for the territory here.

Is it because he thinks he is a permanent resident or because he believes that the risk of being caught will increase if he releases it within the territory?

There was no way to know.

For a while, anyway, these local doctors were going to be busy.

“…….”

I took off my glances for a very short time that I had been holding on to Ash.

“Sir, do you have anything to say?”

After telling the news that a man was coming from the Imperial City, Sir Davery was not leaving the room and was still hanging around as if he had something to do.

I gave him an eye, and his words fell.

“Why don’t you get some sleep?”

“Are you talking to me?”

“It’ll be bright in a little while. You must be tired because you’ve been awake all day.”

“You didn’t sleep at all too, Sir.”

Why did he ask me to sleep when he also didn’t sleep?

Moreover, I sat still and he ran around, but even if I was tired, he would be more tired.

“Go to bed first, Sir.”

“I’m sorry, my lady, but if you put your physical strength on the same line as me, I’m in trouble.”

“…….”

He’s right, but…

It was then. The doctor, who wanted to watch me and Sir Davery talk quietly, suddenly got lucky.

“It’s a little sudden, but Princess.”

“What?”

“You haven’t slept yet.”

“Yes, but what about that?”

“So, did you have any nightmares the last time you fell asleep?”

For a sudden remark, I took a shot at the facts.

But it was a question of unknown intent, so instead of affirming, I asked back.

“Why is that?”

“I think the princess is suspected of early addiction to hallucinogens.”

“……me?”

It was unexpected. Embarrassed, I even pulled up my finger and pointed at myself.

There’s a reason. No symptoms have already been found in Bessie, Alex and Sir Davery, who finished the examination ahead of me.

Because what I ate and drank is the same as what they ate and drank, so even if I were addicted, they must be addicted also.

“No way.”

But unlike me, sceptically, Sir Davery seemed to have something to point at.

“Sir?”

Changing his complexion, he soon muttered as if he were sighing.

“Until this son of a bitch dies.”

“…….?”

“My lady, do you remember the first day you came to the estate?”

“Of course, it was only yesterday.”

“Later that day, he called you up.”

“I did, but…..no, how could you?”

Sir Davery, with both hands raised, explained it.

“It was my duty to keep my eye on you for a second, just in case of an unexpected situation.”

“You’re telling me you’ve been hiding and seen it secretly?”

Is this man a knight or a ninja?

Sir Davery continued his words in a bad mood.

“Anyway, didn’t you drink anything back then? Whatever the Viscount give you,”

“That’s…”

I did drink. I was going to decline a drink, but he just recommended it again and again so I drank it.

“So that’s….?”

“It must be. The Viscount, I heard that the man used to drink hallucinogens like water.”

‘I was dumbfounded. What the hell? If you’re going to drink it, just drink it on your own.’

I frowned and the doctor’s words reassured me.

“Fortunately, it seems like you’re only consumed it a little. The estimated level of addiction is not severe. At this rate, even if you don’t take an antidote, the hallucinogens will naturally disappear in a few days.”

“Oh, really?”

So I don’t have to get the antidote…..

“But for a few days, you may have nightmares similar to the early ones-”

“Give me the antidote, please.”

I cut off the doctor’s words and asked urgently.

Subsequently, a thought has flashed.

‘That means all the nightmares I had were due to hallucinogens.’

The vivid dream that Ash used to strangle me.

‘That Lucas. That Lucas has died, but I want to revive him and kill him again.’

The doctor nodded.

“Okay. I’ll get it right away. Oh, by the way, princess.”

“…….?”

“I don’t know what the nightmare was like, but if you fall asleep tonight, you might have the opposite dream than before.”

The opposite dream?

Contrary to nightmares, it means a good dream, but I couldn’t understand it, so I looked at him gently and the explanation followed.

“There is something unique about this hallucinogen component. In the early stages of intake, the user alternates with the opposite dream.”

“If the opposite is true…”

“One is the most feared, the other is the most desired.”

“…….”

“It touches two poles deep inside a person. Then, as the addiction grows, the latter becomes more frequent, and from some point on, the latter is always seen. Not in a dream, but in a sober mind.”

I blinked my eyes. The following words followed.

“I personally think this is the scariest thing about this hallucinogen. It’s also a clever part. Because of this, it seems that people who take them are hardly able to stop taking them even if they are not addicted.”

After he explained it, the doctor raised up. His cool face seemed belatedly thinking that I don’t need the antidote at all.

“I’ll be right back if you wait for a moment. Even if you take the antidote, you can dream until today, but you don’t have to worry about it tomorrow.”

Soon the doctor left the room.

The antidote seemed to need a separate preparation, so he left with Sir Davery to help him with the preparations.

I silently recited what the doctor had said while waiting for him to return with the antidote.

‘What I desired.’

I could understand the doctor’s personal opinion. As he said, there was no other way but to describe this hallucination as spiritual.

Showing what you fear the most and then what you desired.

This means using the basic and weak feeling of fear to break down a person’s mind, and then digging into the broken crevice and seducing the target with the opposite bait of sweetness.

‘It’s strategic, too.’

On the subject of hallucination, ah really.

‘You’ve sold me some nasty stuff, Lucas.’

He sold something like that.

I put my elbows on the nearby table and put my chin on it. I took Ash’s figures back to my eyes, lying unconscious on the bed.

‘What I desired.’

The deepest part of me is what I want the most.

‘What’s that?’

After all, what I desired the most is surviving, right?

The most fearful thing was to die at the hands of Ash.

I thought I could imagine how my dream of hallucinogens worked.

Maybe it will show me how I live and eat well without any worries, is it?

Or a virtual parallel world where I was born as Ash’s real sister in the first place.

I was curious at first, but I didn’t mean to go to sleep to confirm it.

It’s just a probability that I’ll have a good dream this time.

What if I’m unlucky and have another nightmare?’

No way. Never. It is an unconditional specification.

‘Let’s not sleep tonight.’

I’ll just stay awake. I wasn’t going to sleep until Ash was conscious anyway.

After taking the hallucinogens, I’ll stay up and endure until tomorrow.

I thought so and kept my eye on Ash.

I flinched, I came to my senses.

‘Ash?’

I could see a familiar and very welcome face in front of me.

Ash was staring at me right in front of me.

Did he wake up?

As soon as I was about to say so, I felt something strange.

Ash was dressed. I’m sure he wasn’t wearing anything at all. And somehow I couldn’t see the bandage on his left arm.

As soon as I recognized it, there was a sense of incompatibility in the place.

‘This is……’

It’s not a bedroom in the mansion on the territory. This layout and landscape, apparently, were Ash’s rooms in the capital’s Dukedom.

‘No, why here?’

I immediately understand the situation.

‘It’s a dream.’